City removes Galt City Centre sign due to 'immediate danger'

The city has made a proactive decision to demolish the Galt City Centre sign early amid fears of it collapsing. 

Despite the city's horticultural team planting dozens of fresh flowers at the base of the sign only a few days prior to the demolition, city staff said they decided to respond immediately to a complaint about the structural integrity of the pillars flanking the armour stone base.

The sign was scheduled to be removed anyway, later this summer, to clear the way for the region to complete its upcoming project to convert Water Street North back to a two way street. 

"I find it sometimes funny when people in the public they wonder what's going on with some of the things they see around the community," Mayor Jan Liggett said during Tuesday's council meeting. "We have the three pillars at the entrance to the downtown core that are being removed and I just want to reassure the public that they're not being removed to put up some big monument."

The sign has been at the divide of Water Street North and Ainslie Street for decades. The plan was always to remove the structure, but Liggett said a complaint from the community was what brought it down ahead of schedule. 

Liggett reminded council it is regional land and it is going to be reconstructed to make way for the proposed Cambridge Mill condo and hotel towers overlooking the Grand River. 

The region is removing seven parking spaces on Water Street North and changing the one-way between Simcoe and Ainslie streets to two-way traffic. 

Pearle Hospitality is expected to begin construction soon on the 253 unit condominium tower and 146-unit hotel tower, which will be connected by a two-storey podium with underground parking.

Posts on Facebook in recent days questioned the city's decision to remove the sign less than a week after they took the time to plant all of the flowers in the area. 

"All those New Flowers were planted by City Of Cambridge Students on Friday. I think 12 Students all day and then the City dug everything up Monday. Total waste and should be ashamed," wrote one resident. 

"Flowers were planted earlier, before the hazard was identified. Regional council made the decision to modify that section quite a while ago, but new circumstances prompted the city to act quickly," added another user. 

Liggett wants to assure the community that it was purely coincidental that flowers were planted and then the sign was taken down. She adds the city needed to remove it to keep drivers and residents safe and all of the extra and expedited work came at little cost to taxpayers.